Process of marking fruit



Patented Apr. 29, I924.

NITED STATES.

ARTHUR B. HALE, F TAMPA, FLORIDA.

PROCESS or MARKING FRUIT.

No Drawing.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ARTHUR BENJAMIN HALE. a citizen of the United States, residing at Tampa, in the county of Hillsborough and State of Florida, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Processes of MarkingFruit, of which the following is a specification.

The most usual practice of marking or- 1 anges from a given grower, or locality, or

of a given quality is either to wrap the same in tissue paper bearing the trademark, or to paste a small sticker on the fruit; but these marks are readily removed or altered, and the stickers in particular are apt to be wiped off. The purpose of my present invention is to provide a permanent mark for each individual orange. which is not accidentally removable, is clear and distinct and cannot be obliterated without Inutilating the peel of the orange.

It is frequently the custom to coat oranges with a thin coating of paraffin for the purpose of preserving the same, and my invention is especially adapted for use in connected with oranges which have received this preliminary treatment; but it is also applicable to oranges which have not received such treatment,

lVhile using the word oranges in this specification, it will be understood that i mean to refer also to all other kinds of citrus fruit, such as grapefruit. citrons, lemons,

tangerines, and other species of the same' general qualities as oranges, all of which have askin which is more or less oleaginous and is diilicult to mark with printing ink.

According t my invention I use an ink having a paraffin base which is applied to the ribbon while in the heated condition and adheres to the ribbon and hardens thereon. This ink is then transferred to the orange by means of a heated die which melts the parafiin and causes the ink containing the paraffin to adhere to the orange or a fortiari to the artificial paraflin coat- Application filed July 17, 1922. Serial No. 575,785.

ing on the orange, when such coating has previously been applied. After the orange passes the heated die, the paraflin in the ink causes it to adhere and harden on the face of the orange, and it remains permanently applied thereto.

While it may be more convenient to apply the ink to a ribbon and transfer the ink from the ribbon to the fruit as just described, other devices may be provided which may effect the transfer of limited heated portions of the ink to the surface of the fruit, and I do not mean to limit the invention to its use as applied by a ribbon.

It will be obvious that various changes in the operation of the parts may be made which could be used without departing from the spirit of my invention; and I do not means to limit the invention to such details except as particularly pointed out in the claims.

Having thus described my invention what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is 1. The process of marking fruit, which consists in previouslv coating the fruit with paraffin. and in then applying ink comprising a paraffin base to said parafiin coating with a heated die.

2. The hereindescribed process for marking fruit, which consists in initially applying a coating of parafiin to the skin of the fruit, and subsequently impressing in color a marking upon the artificial parailin coating of the fruit without destroying or puncturing the skin of the fruit.

3. The hereindescribed process for marking fruit which consists in applying an artificial coating of paraffin to the fruit. heating a die and while heated, pressing the die against the artificial parafiin coating with an inked ribbon between the die and the coating whereby to impress in the artificial coating the marking in color as determined by the inked ribbon.

ARTHUR B. HALE. 

